Kennedy

Where Kennedy comes from

Borrowed from Irish Ó Cinnéidigh (ceann (“head”) + éidigh (“ugly”)) or Scottish Gaelic Ceannaideach (ceann (“head”) + aideach (“ugly”). Compare Kenneth and Irish eitigh (“refuse, reject”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Kennedy
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1957
    First appearance
    #6,086 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1980
    Kennedy Bakırcıoğlu born
    Swedish association football player
  3. 1984
    Kennedy Mweene born
    Zambian footballer
  4. 1993
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  5. 2014
    Peak, #54
    4,498 babies named Kennedy — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name.
  • A female given name transferred from the surname, of modern American usage.
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Kennedy Mweene · Zambian footballer, born 1984
  • Kennedy Bakırcıoğlu · Swedish association football player, born 1980
  • Kennedy McMann · American actress, born 1996
  • Kennedy Igboananike · Nigerian footballer, born 1989
  • Kennedy McKinney · boxer, born 1966

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.